DVD Commentary: Moebius, Part 1
Peter DeLuise and Gary Jones (who was again unbilled in the dvd menu) introduce themselves.
PDL asks GJ if he knows what the word moebius implies. He says no. PDL admits that he needed an explanation too. He describes it as the strip of paper that you twist back on itself into a figure eight. It’s all one side. “Infinity,” GJ finishes. And that, PDL concludes, is kind of what this episode is about. They go back in time, then they come back, and infinity--it’s kind of a twisted circle.
PDL says that one of the things he did when he started on the episode is to create a time map. Not to be confused with the map from Time Bandits he quickly adds. Because they wouldn’t have been able to afford that.
GJ immediately cuts in with a story about working on a stage play of History of Things to Come by H.G. Wells. They found out half way through that they might not have the rights to do the play, so it went into all sorts of permutations and wound up becoming Time Pants. Which is when they realized they needed to redouble their efforts to get the rights to use H.G. Wells’s story.
GJ asks if he’s in this episode. PDL says yes.
Colin Cunningham’s name comes across the credits. PDL talks about doing several conventions with him and what a crowd pleaser he is.
The credits finish and GJ’s name isn’t in them. PDL makes a tongue in cheek suggestion that GJ should probably leave now. He doesn’t.
PDL asks GJ if he agrees that the woman onscreen [Catherine’s niece] is pretty. GJ asks who she is. PDL wonders if he really needs to know that in order to comment on whether she’s pretty. [heh] GJ tells him that she’s very pretty.
Satisfied with that, PDL says that they were trying to create a sort of sexual tension between she and Daniel. He wanted the audience to think that there would be something between them. Instead, the payoff is the artifact that she hands him, as well the other things that follow. PDL says that the amulet that she hands Daniel is the prop that was used in the original movie.
PDL makes a callback to the Reckoning commentary by noting that we’re two scenes in and the credits are just now finishing up. “And that’s why you have to keep it wide early on,” he says.
They both crack up over the geologist giving his report to Jack. To GJ’s question, PDL takes a few seconds to remember that his name is David Lewis. GJ says that he worked with him on a comedy/variety show and that he was great. PDL wonders why he asked what his name was if he’d worked with him before. He goes on to say how good he was in such a small role. He feels that they get a lot of good actors for Stargate and the talent pool in Vancouver is amazing.
PDL talks about first coming up to the area for 21 Jump Street. He didn’t really know what to expect, all he knew about Canada came from Bob and Doug McKenzie. He says that he slowly but surely fell in love with the place and the people. He noticed that the American producers making shows didn’t have faith in the local talent and would bring in people from Los Angeles. PDL credits Chris Carter of the X-Files with saying that there’s plenty of good talent right there and for the most part casting his guest stars with Canadians. They talk a little bit about the Lone Gunman. Then GJ mentions that Bill Dow (Dr. Lee) was a recurring on X-Files. PDL circles back to where he started, saying that he’s worked with a lot of wonderful people on Stargate. Maybe David Lewis only had a few lines, but he was hilarious in those few lines. PDL appreciates how much easier that makes his job.
PDL goes on to extoll the Vancouver talent pool a little bit more. It’s not just acting, he says. It’s lighting, props, vis effects. All of it is first-rate.
GJ asks if the camo outfits that SG-1 is wearing are actual outfits. He wants to know why we don’t see them on CNN footage. PDL says that a little license is taken. GJ says that they have the cool collars. PDL agrees and says that it’s a bomber cut.
Onscreen, SG-1 has landed in ancient Egypt. PDL tells us that the scene we see through the window of the jumper is a rear screen projection. It’s a video tape of a dune that is projected on a screen behind the actors. Everything inside the ship is on a soundstage. When they get outside, they’re at the Richmond Sand Dunes. He says that the “outside” ship is of a smaller size than the “inside” ship that’s shot on the soundstage. They talk a bit about the Richmond site. It’s a cement factory, and the sand, of course, is used to make the cement. PDL says that it’s been getting smaller and smaller over time. The “dune” that they’re using for their Egypt scenes, is the only bit that’s left to use. PDL says that another project, Earthsea, created a horseshoe of dune there. He says that if we were to look to the right or left of the shot on screen, we would see trees, factories, and telephone poles. There are few angles left, except for those within that horseshoe.
Onscreen, Ra is stepping on to his dais. PDL says that unfortunately the actor could not see out of his mask. Walking forward with the heavy mask and unable to see wasn’t so great. PDL hoped that having the women help would be representative of him being very tactile rather than blind. PDL says that Jay Williams plays Ra and that he is also the stand in for Rainbow Sun Franks on Atlantis. He says that his build is slight and that he looks a little bit like Jaye Davidson, the original Ra. With the mention of Davidon, PDL works in a reference to The Crying Game.
PDL identifies Alessandro Juliani as Katep. He says he’s wonderful and doesn’t know why they didn’t have him on sooner. Then he remembers that he was in Scorched Earth as one of the guys who wore weird contact lenses. GJ suggests that he may have been wondering even more than PDL why he hadn’t been back.
One of Ra’s serpent guard marches by. PDL says that this guy could also barely see. They admire the shot of Teal’c activating the helmet around his own head. PDL explains that in the movie, Ra’s guards represented all the animals. Over time, Apophis just had the snake, Anubis the jackel, Heruer the falcon. Since Ra had all the animals, they went ahead and borrowed the Heruer mask from earlier in the series for this episode.
PDL admires the CG effect of the invisible ship with sand surrounding it. He feels that having a moving camera made the shot more interesting and the vis effects guys worked with him to make it come out well.
PDL brings up the grandfather theory, which leads SG-1 to resolve to do nothing.
GJ looks at SG-1 in all of their robes and asks if they aren’t sweating.
PDL: Are they ever. It’s the middle of summer. Those guys are wearing several layers of non-breathable material. And if you got even one grain of sand in... the sandy, gaunchy, sweaty...uch
GJ: File under chafe.
GJ asks if RDA put his head covering close to his eye to create a goofy look. This sends PDL into a headwear tangent. There was a lot of discussion about what he would wear on his head. GJ is unsurprised. They started out with huge turbans. PDL nixed that immediately. PDL has issues with hats, which has come up from time to time in previous commentaries.
Now, we’re in the changed timeline. PDL says that the grammar rules on the chalkboard behind Daniel are things that he came up with on the day of filming. He says that the room that is used for Daniel’s classroom, is the conference room for the people who put together The Outer Limits. He says that they originally scouted a real school for their location, but lost it. PDL then suggested that they just go across the parking lot and use that big office.
GJ points out an extra and says that he’s married to someone that he [GJ] worked with on a film.
We move to Sam in the altered timeline. PDL refers to her as not living up to her potential and describes that as the theme for the entire new timeline. PDL says that the room that they’re using for Sam’s office is just across the hall from the room that they used for Daniel’s classroom. GJ teases that they just walk around office buildings with a camera until they find a good spot.
We get to Jack on his boat and PDL asks GJ if he recognizes the location. He identifies the bridge and then figures out that they’re on Gramble Island. GJ recognizes “what’s his name” who was on the show early, then never came back. [He’s referring to Robert Wisden who plays Major Samuels.]
PDL crows “king of the world!” as Jack raises his arms while taking his boat out of harbor.
PDL and GJ do some made up dialog for the Cheyenne Mountain guards. Then PDL comments that the editor must like that particular establishing shot for the Mountain, because it seems to come up frequently.
PDL refers to the scene of altSam and altDaniel meeting for the first time as a lot of fun. He also points out that all of the pictures on the walls are of rockets and missiles because in this timeline Cheyenne Mountain is a missile silo and not the home of the stargate. PDL goes on to reiterate the frumpy clothes, glasses, and unrealized potential.
PDL tells us that AT did wonderful comedy before she was ever on Stargate and says that this episode was a great chance for her to shine in that regard.
Don S. Davis appears on screen, so PDL has some fun imitating him for just a little bit. Then he points out the scar on AltHammond’s cheek. PDL thinks that maybe they should have gone bigger with that. He also points out that he only has one star instead of two. PDL says he tried to make each character have some nuance that was different.
AltSam and AltDaniel have just signed the nondisclosure agreements. PDL asks GJ if he remembers when he had to sign his nondisclosure agreement to work on the show because of the real stargate vs the sci fi program. GJ plays along and says yes. Then he launches into a story about a time when he really had to sign a nondisclosure document. This was when he worked a millennial New Year’s Eve party at Bill Gates’ house.
Getting back to the episode at hand, PDL tells us that he was the one that shot the video of the original SG-1 leaving their taped message in ancient Egypt. He had a little fun with the shaky camera and less than perfect framing. PDL says that he had to do it because the actual camera operator wasn’t able to make it bad enough. [Hee! Probably like the way really good singers have a hard time deliberately singing off-key.]
The scene shifts back to Hammond and GJ asks where his scar his. PDL points it out on his left cheek and says again that he thinks he should have made it bigger. He jokes that when he redoes the episode for the feature, he’ll make it bigger.
PDL: So, now they’re [Daniel & Sam] in this very inconvenient position of having to try to figure out what the original timeline is, but they’re not as cool as they were. So they have unrealized potential, like yourself [GJ] and me and they’re finding out that there’s another version of themselves that have fully realized potentials. Now what would you do if you found out this was a different timeline and you were, in fact, supposed to be, say, an important politician or somebody who discovered the cure for what we now consider an incurable disease?
GJ: What would I what?
PDL: Well, would you go and have a coffee and sit down in the cafeteria and have discussion? Or, would you like do some research, or have a piece of pie?
GJ: Do some research. That’s pretty much all I’d do.
[I vote for the discussion, research, and pie. And now I wonder if there’s another reality where I’m much, much cooler. And I’d also like a piece of pie.]
PDL asks GJ if he looks up anything about wormhole technology when he has to say technical things, or does he just try to sound like he knows what he’s talking about. GJ goes with trying to sound like he’s knowledgeable. PDL joshes with him that he’s more concerned with his wife and family and mortgage payments than doing research. GJ shoots back that he’s tried discussing lines with director PDL and hears from the hallway “just say the line and shut up! Just say the line and stop.” PDL protests that they have a wonderful time on the show. GJ laughs and agrees. PDL also says that not only does he not do what GJ is accusing him of, he insists that GJ do every scene as Shatner. GJ goes on to talk about how whenever people leave the gateroom, PDL will leave the camera going and have GJ work through various emotions (hungry, lonely, etc.) just for fun. They have fun for awhile with an) ongoing background story that they had going in a previous episode where Walter was drinking pepto bismal.
PDL mentions that he had GJ on Andromeda once and asks if he enjoyed that experience. They talk about that for awhile.
We’re back at the Homer (Jack’s boat, named for The Simpsons). Jack is supposedly working on his engine, but it’s not located there. So he’s basically just tapping tools together. PDL laughs and says that from his MacGuyver days, RDA is really good at banging metal and making it look like he’s doing something.
PDL went on the boat and saw the obnoxious looking flotation devices. He immediately decided that Jack would torment Daniel and Sam by making them wear them, even if they never leave the slip. PDL and GJ both laugh while watching them. [I do too.] They talk a little bit more about the scene, how the only way Daniel and Sam could get Jack to listen was to pay him for his time. And if they were going to be on the boat, they had to wear the flotation devices. PDL says that they made that up on the day of filming when he saw the life vests. He risked going to the How Come Room, he says, even willing to endure the What The Hell Were You Thinking Room. GJ asks if it paid off. PDL says yes. Martin Wood told him that he heard huge guffaws from the office where they were watching dailies. He thought that they were watching Citizen Joe, but when he came around the corner they were watching this sequence. PDL adds that AT managed to make her hair look that same goofy way every single time she took off the vest.
They’re back at Cheyenne Mountain and we see the puddle jumper. PDL says that the room it’s in is the gateroom, though it’s not called that here or dressed that way because there’s no gate (yet).
GJ recognizes an extra that often sits next to him in the control room. PDL agrees and says that they used a lot of their usual extras and put them in slightly altered roles for the altered timeline.
Now we’re inside the ship. PDL says that the inside is bigger than the outside. Like the Tardis. [Okay, he doesn’t say that last part.] He explains that the interiors are shot on the effects stage. The exterior is 2/3 the size of the interior and is built to fit into the gate room.
PDL refers to having McKay as a special treat. He says that the character has always been a bit misogynistic so they just kept that going. They laugh at Sam wiping her hand off on her pants after shaking hands with McKay. PDL says that he’s a little more diplomatic on the other show, but here he’s as prickly as ever because no one’s ever questioned his intelligence. In the regular timeline, Sam’s just slightly smarter than him. But in this timeline, he’s the smartest person he knows so he can get away with being mean to people.
Major Davis appears again and GJ comments that Colin Cunningham is an accomplished sax player. PDL didn’t know that. GJ says that he would go out on the street and busk and make his rent. He says that he’s a kick ass saxophonist. He adds that he’s a guy that can do a million things.
PDL points out himself in a cameo in the gateroom. He says that he was forty pounds heavier there then than he is at the time of the commentary. He sounds amazed that he was that much bigger. They talk about their respective sons for a minute or two.
The gate being lowered into the room is done entirely by CG. PDL thinks that the very final frame of the shot may have been the practical gate, otherwise, it’s fake all the way.
With that, we’re at the credits. PDL thanks GJ for giving up his Saturday to do commentary. PDL mentions the lack of compensation for doing it. GJ pretends to be surprised and threatens to not talk any more. PDL says he’s talking for both of them and thanks us for listening. And that brings part 1 to an end.
PDL asks GJ if he knows what the word moebius implies. He says no. PDL admits that he needed an explanation too. He describes it as the strip of paper that you twist back on itself into a figure eight. It’s all one side. “Infinity,” GJ finishes. And that, PDL concludes, is kind of what this episode is about. They go back in time, then they come back, and infinity--it’s kind of a twisted circle.
PDL says that one of the things he did when he started on the episode is to create a time map. Not to be confused with the map from Time Bandits he quickly adds. Because they wouldn’t have been able to afford that.
GJ immediately cuts in with a story about working on a stage play of History of Things to Come by H.G. Wells. They found out half way through that they might not have the rights to do the play, so it went into all sorts of permutations and wound up becoming Time Pants. Which is when they realized they needed to redouble their efforts to get the rights to use H.G. Wells’s story.
GJ asks if he’s in this episode. PDL says yes.
Colin Cunningham’s name comes across the credits. PDL talks about doing several conventions with him and what a crowd pleaser he is.
The credits finish and GJ’s name isn’t in them. PDL makes a tongue in cheek suggestion that GJ should probably leave now. He doesn’t.
PDL asks GJ if he agrees that the woman onscreen [Catherine’s niece] is pretty. GJ asks who she is. PDL wonders if he really needs to know that in order to comment on whether she’s pretty. [heh] GJ tells him that she’s very pretty.
Satisfied with that, PDL says that they were trying to create a sort of sexual tension between she and Daniel. He wanted the audience to think that there would be something between them. Instead, the payoff is the artifact that she hands him, as well the other things that follow. PDL says that the amulet that she hands Daniel is the prop that was used in the original movie.
PDL makes a callback to the Reckoning commentary by noting that we’re two scenes in and the credits are just now finishing up. “And that’s why you have to keep it wide early on,” he says.
They both crack up over the geologist giving his report to Jack. To GJ’s question, PDL takes a few seconds to remember that his name is David Lewis. GJ says that he worked with him on a comedy/variety show and that he was great. PDL wonders why he asked what his name was if he’d worked with him before. He goes on to say how good he was in such a small role. He feels that they get a lot of good actors for Stargate and the talent pool in Vancouver is amazing.
PDL talks about first coming up to the area for 21 Jump Street. He didn’t really know what to expect, all he knew about Canada came from Bob and Doug McKenzie. He says that he slowly but surely fell in love with the place and the people. He noticed that the American producers making shows didn’t have faith in the local talent and would bring in people from Los Angeles. PDL credits Chris Carter of the X-Files with saying that there’s plenty of good talent right there and for the most part casting his guest stars with Canadians. They talk a little bit about the Lone Gunman. Then GJ mentions that Bill Dow (Dr. Lee) was a recurring on X-Files. PDL circles back to where he started, saying that he’s worked with a lot of wonderful people on Stargate. Maybe David Lewis only had a few lines, but he was hilarious in those few lines. PDL appreciates how much easier that makes his job.
PDL goes on to extoll the Vancouver talent pool a little bit more. It’s not just acting, he says. It’s lighting, props, vis effects. All of it is first-rate.
GJ asks if the camo outfits that SG-1 is wearing are actual outfits. He wants to know why we don’t see them on CNN footage. PDL says that a little license is taken. GJ says that they have the cool collars. PDL agrees and says that it’s a bomber cut.
Onscreen, SG-1 has landed in ancient Egypt. PDL tells us that the scene we see through the window of the jumper is a rear screen projection. It’s a video tape of a dune that is projected on a screen behind the actors. Everything inside the ship is on a soundstage. When they get outside, they’re at the Richmond Sand Dunes. He says that the “outside” ship is of a smaller size than the “inside” ship that’s shot on the soundstage. They talk a bit about the Richmond site. It’s a cement factory, and the sand, of course, is used to make the cement. PDL says that it’s been getting smaller and smaller over time. The “dune” that they’re using for their Egypt scenes, is the only bit that’s left to use. PDL says that another project, Earthsea, created a horseshoe of dune there. He says that if we were to look to the right or left of the shot on screen, we would see trees, factories, and telephone poles. There are few angles left, except for those within that horseshoe.
Onscreen, Ra is stepping on to his dais. PDL says that unfortunately the actor could not see out of his mask. Walking forward with the heavy mask and unable to see wasn’t so great. PDL hoped that having the women help would be representative of him being very tactile rather than blind. PDL says that Jay Williams plays Ra and that he is also the stand in for Rainbow Sun Franks on Atlantis. He says that his build is slight and that he looks a little bit like Jaye Davidson, the original Ra. With the mention of Davidon, PDL works in a reference to The Crying Game.
PDL identifies Alessandro Juliani as Katep. He says he’s wonderful and doesn’t know why they didn’t have him on sooner. Then he remembers that he was in Scorched Earth as one of the guys who wore weird contact lenses. GJ suggests that he may have been wondering even more than PDL why he hadn’t been back.
One of Ra’s serpent guard marches by. PDL says that this guy could also barely see. They admire the shot of Teal’c activating the helmet around his own head. PDL explains that in the movie, Ra’s guards represented all the animals. Over time, Apophis just had the snake, Anubis the jackel, Heruer the falcon. Since Ra had all the animals, they went ahead and borrowed the Heruer mask from earlier in the series for this episode.
PDL admires the CG effect of the invisible ship with sand surrounding it. He feels that having a moving camera made the shot more interesting and the vis effects guys worked with him to make it come out well.
PDL brings up the grandfather theory, which leads SG-1 to resolve to do nothing.
GJ looks at SG-1 in all of their robes and asks if they aren’t sweating.
PDL: Are they ever. It’s the middle of summer. Those guys are wearing several layers of non-breathable material. And if you got even one grain of sand in... the sandy, gaunchy, sweaty...uch
GJ: File under chafe.
GJ asks if RDA put his head covering close to his eye to create a goofy look. This sends PDL into a headwear tangent. There was a lot of discussion about what he would wear on his head. GJ is unsurprised. They started out with huge turbans. PDL nixed that immediately. PDL has issues with hats, which has come up from time to time in previous commentaries.
Now, we’re in the changed timeline. PDL says that the grammar rules on the chalkboard behind Daniel are things that he came up with on the day of filming. He says that the room that is used for Daniel’s classroom, is the conference room for the people who put together The Outer Limits. He says that they originally scouted a real school for their location, but lost it. PDL then suggested that they just go across the parking lot and use that big office.
GJ points out an extra and says that he’s married to someone that he [GJ] worked with on a film.
We move to Sam in the altered timeline. PDL refers to her as not living up to her potential and describes that as the theme for the entire new timeline. PDL says that the room that they’re using for Sam’s office is just across the hall from the room that they used for Daniel’s classroom. GJ teases that they just walk around office buildings with a camera until they find a good spot.
We get to Jack on his boat and PDL asks GJ if he recognizes the location. He identifies the bridge and then figures out that they’re on Gramble Island. GJ recognizes “what’s his name” who was on the show early, then never came back. [He’s referring to Robert Wisden who plays Major Samuels.]
PDL crows “king of the world!” as Jack raises his arms while taking his boat out of harbor.
PDL and GJ do some made up dialog for the Cheyenne Mountain guards. Then PDL comments that the editor must like that particular establishing shot for the Mountain, because it seems to come up frequently.
PDL refers to the scene of altSam and altDaniel meeting for the first time as a lot of fun. He also points out that all of the pictures on the walls are of rockets and missiles because in this timeline Cheyenne Mountain is a missile silo and not the home of the stargate. PDL goes on to reiterate the frumpy clothes, glasses, and unrealized potential.
PDL tells us that AT did wonderful comedy before she was ever on Stargate and says that this episode was a great chance for her to shine in that regard.
Don S. Davis appears on screen, so PDL has some fun imitating him for just a little bit. Then he points out the scar on AltHammond’s cheek. PDL thinks that maybe they should have gone bigger with that. He also points out that he only has one star instead of two. PDL says he tried to make each character have some nuance that was different.
AltSam and AltDaniel have just signed the nondisclosure agreements. PDL asks GJ if he remembers when he had to sign his nondisclosure agreement to work on the show because of the real stargate vs the sci fi program. GJ plays along and says yes. Then he launches into a story about a time when he really had to sign a nondisclosure document. This was when he worked a millennial New Year’s Eve party at Bill Gates’ house.
Getting back to the episode at hand, PDL tells us that he was the one that shot the video of the original SG-1 leaving their taped message in ancient Egypt. He had a little fun with the shaky camera and less than perfect framing. PDL says that he had to do it because the actual camera operator wasn’t able to make it bad enough. [Hee! Probably like the way really good singers have a hard time deliberately singing off-key.]
The scene shifts back to Hammond and GJ asks where his scar his. PDL points it out on his left cheek and says again that he thinks he should have made it bigger. He jokes that when he redoes the episode for the feature, he’ll make it bigger.
PDL: So, now they’re [Daniel & Sam] in this very inconvenient position of having to try to figure out what the original timeline is, but they’re not as cool as they were. So they have unrealized potential, like yourself [GJ] and me and they’re finding out that there’s another version of themselves that have fully realized potentials. Now what would you do if you found out this was a different timeline and you were, in fact, supposed to be, say, an important politician or somebody who discovered the cure for what we now consider an incurable disease?
GJ: What would I what?
PDL: Well, would you go and have a coffee and sit down in the cafeteria and have discussion? Or, would you like do some research, or have a piece of pie?
GJ: Do some research. That’s pretty much all I’d do.
[I vote for the discussion, research, and pie. And now I wonder if there’s another reality where I’m much, much cooler. And I’d also like a piece of pie.]
PDL asks GJ if he looks up anything about wormhole technology when he has to say technical things, or does he just try to sound like he knows what he’s talking about. GJ goes with trying to sound like he’s knowledgeable. PDL joshes with him that he’s more concerned with his wife and family and mortgage payments than doing research. GJ shoots back that he’s tried discussing lines with director PDL and hears from the hallway “just say the line and shut up! Just say the line and stop.” PDL protests that they have a wonderful time on the show. GJ laughs and agrees. PDL also says that not only does he not do what GJ is accusing him of, he insists that GJ do every scene as Shatner. GJ goes on to talk about how whenever people leave the gateroom, PDL will leave the camera going and have GJ work through various emotions (hungry, lonely, etc.) just for fun. They have fun for awhile with an) ongoing background story that they had going in a previous episode where Walter was drinking pepto bismal.
PDL mentions that he had GJ on Andromeda once and asks if he enjoyed that experience. They talk about that for awhile.
We’re back at the Homer (Jack’s boat, named for The Simpsons). Jack is supposedly working on his engine, but it’s not located there. So he’s basically just tapping tools together. PDL laughs and says that from his MacGuyver days, RDA is really good at banging metal and making it look like he’s doing something.
PDL went on the boat and saw the obnoxious looking flotation devices. He immediately decided that Jack would torment Daniel and Sam by making them wear them, even if they never leave the slip. PDL and GJ both laugh while watching them. [I do too.] They talk a little bit more about the scene, how the only way Daniel and Sam could get Jack to listen was to pay him for his time. And if they were going to be on the boat, they had to wear the flotation devices. PDL says that they made that up on the day of filming when he saw the life vests. He risked going to the How Come Room, he says, even willing to endure the What The Hell Were You Thinking Room. GJ asks if it paid off. PDL says yes. Martin Wood told him that he heard huge guffaws from the office where they were watching dailies. He thought that they were watching Citizen Joe, but when he came around the corner they were watching this sequence. PDL adds that AT managed to make her hair look that same goofy way every single time she took off the vest.
They’re back at Cheyenne Mountain and we see the puddle jumper. PDL says that the room it’s in is the gateroom, though it’s not called that here or dressed that way because there’s no gate (yet).
GJ recognizes an extra that often sits next to him in the control room. PDL agrees and says that they used a lot of their usual extras and put them in slightly altered roles for the altered timeline.
Now we’re inside the ship. PDL says that the inside is bigger than the outside. Like the Tardis. [Okay, he doesn’t say that last part.] He explains that the interiors are shot on the effects stage. The exterior is 2/3 the size of the interior and is built to fit into the gate room.
PDL refers to having McKay as a special treat. He says that the character has always been a bit misogynistic so they just kept that going. They laugh at Sam wiping her hand off on her pants after shaking hands with McKay. PDL says that he’s a little more diplomatic on the other show, but here he’s as prickly as ever because no one’s ever questioned his intelligence. In the regular timeline, Sam’s just slightly smarter than him. But in this timeline, he’s the smartest person he knows so he can get away with being mean to people.
Major Davis appears again and GJ comments that Colin Cunningham is an accomplished sax player. PDL didn’t know that. GJ says that he would go out on the street and busk and make his rent. He says that he’s a kick ass saxophonist. He adds that he’s a guy that can do a million things.
PDL points out himself in a cameo in the gateroom. He says that he was forty pounds heavier there then than he is at the time of the commentary. He sounds amazed that he was that much bigger. They talk about their respective sons for a minute or two.
The gate being lowered into the room is done entirely by CG. PDL thinks that the very final frame of the shot may have been the practical gate, otherwise, it’s fake all the way.
With that, we’re at the credits. PDL thanks GJ for giving up his Saturday to do commentary. PDL mentions the lack of compensation for doing it. GJ pretends to be surprised and threatens to not talk any more. PDL says he’s talking for both of them and thanks us for listening. And that brings part 1 to an end.